


all we see is sky

by MirrorMystic



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson, Persona 5
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Post-Canon, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 15:32:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11808894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirrorMystic/pseuds/MirrorMystic
Summary: Ann and Ryuji set out to see the first sunrise of the new year.A songfic to "For Forever" from Dear Evan Hansen.





	all we see is sky

**Author's Note:**

> Trying a little something new, here. I'm not a big songfic guy, but this particular song hit me with the BroTP feels so hard that it had to be done. This takes place after the game, while Akira's still away from Tokyo. While you can easily read this as a standalone, I consider this to be a companion piece to "The Vanguard", from my series "Where The Lines Overlap". I hope you all enjoy the read. ^^

~*~  
  
It’s still dark when they first set out. They pile into the back seat of Sojiro’s car, Ann still half-asleep, Ryuji too loud, too eager.  
  
“Seatbelts,” Sojiro reminds them. He catches their eyes in his rearview mirror.  
  
And just like that, they’re off, leaving the garish lights of the city behind them, determined to keep driving until they can see the stars.

 _All we see is sky, for forever  
_ _We let the world pass by for forever…_

Ann murmurs and leans into Ryuji’s shoulder. She smiles up at him sleepily, trailing her fingers through her tangled blond mane. She huffs a sheepish sigh and waves her hands, palms out.  
  
Ryuji understands. He digs into his jacket pockets for spare hair ties. Ann pulls her hairbrush out of her coat, and, together, they attempt to tame the lion. Outside, streetlights become street signs, signs become fenceposts, fences become trees.

_Feels like we could go on for forever this way..._

Ryuji opens his door, and the sudden chill makes Ann tighten her scarf with a curse. But then she looks up, and sees Ryuji’s teasing grin. It’s freezing out, but his smile is warm.

_...Two friends on a perfect day._

Sojiro drops them off at the base of the mountain, tells them to be careful on the trail, and to call him if they need anything. They wave as he drives off, and watch the bright lances of his headlights disappear down the narrow road. Ann unselfconsciously curls an arm around Ryuji’s, bumping her head against his, like a cat.  
  
“It’s cold,” she pouts, but she’s smiling all the same.  
  
“It’ll be warmer once we get moving,” Ryuji says.  
  
He checks his phone for a moment, before slipping it back into his coat.  
  
“Come on,” Ryuji grins. “We’ve only got, like, an hour to make it up top.”  
  
Ann smiles. “Wanna race?”  
  
Ryuji rolls his eyes. “Come on…”

 _We walk awhile and talk about  
_ _The things we’ll do when we get out of school…_

“Center test is coming up,” Ann says, huffing as they hike up the trail. “Two weeks, and then entrance exams after that…”  
  
“Forget exams,” Ryuji says, grinning. “Shiho’s coming back to Tokyo next week. And Akira’s coming back in April! This summer’s gonna be great!”  
  
“Oh, yeah,” Ann nods vigorously. “This summer can’t come soon enough…”

 _Bike the Appalachian Trail_  
_Or write a book or learn to sail_ _  
Wouldn’t that be cool?_

“Ryuji?”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Beach trip?”  
  
“Oh, hell yeah.”

 _There’s nothing that we can’t discuss_ _  
_ _Like girls we wish would notice us, but never do…_

“Ann, realtalk, if you asked Haru out, she’d probably say yes.”  
  
“Ryuji, I can’t even _hang out_ with Haru,” Ann lamented. “She’s super out of my league.”  
  
“Have you seen yourself, lately?”  
  
Ann rolled her eyes. “Thanks, but that’s not what I mean. I mean she’s got this weird way of… I dunno, escalating.”  
  
“Escalating.”  
  
“Yeah! Ryuji, the last time I saw her, I said her hair looked nice. Do you know what she did?”  
  
“Say ‘thank you’?”  
  
“No,” Ann grinned at the memory. “She got all flustered, and then she offered to put me through college.”  
  
Ryuji snorted. “What’d you say?”  
  
Ann laughed. “I said I’d think about it…”

 _He looks around and says to me_  
_“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be”_  
_And I say, “Me, too”_  
  
_And we talk and take in the view_ _  
We just talk and take in the view…_

Halfway up the trail, they stop to catch their breath. They stand, arm in arm, the vastness of Tokyo sprawled out beneath them, gray in the pre-dawn light. Ryuji reaches out and nudges the withered knee-high fence with the tip of his shoe. It creaks ominously. He glances beside him, flashing a smile.  
  
“...Y’know…” Ryuji begins. “...if Akira were here…”  
  
“He’d dare you to take a selfie on that fence?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“And then it’d break, and you’d fall off the fucking cliff?”  
  
“Oh yeah,” Ryuji grins. “And I’d record it, too.”  
  
“I want a copy of that video,” Ann snickers. “Just ten seconds of blurry footage and you, yelling.”  
  
“That’s a keeper,” Ryuji says.

 _All we see is sky for forever_  
_We let the world pass by for forever_ _  
Feels like we could go on for forever this way..._

On the horizon, the first pale white wisps of dawn peek across the gray sky. Ryuji bolts upright with a sudden curse.  
  
“It’s almost time!” He grins, tugging on Ann’s wrist. “Race you to the top!”  
  
“Oh, _now_ you want to race?”  
  
“Come on, come on!”  
  
He takes her by the hand, and then they’re running, running...

 _All we see is light for forever_  
_‘Cause the sun shines bright for forever_  
_Like we’ll be alright for forever this way_ _  
Two friends on a perfect day…_

Ann chases Ryuji up the trail, fire burning in her chest, chasing away the cold. Ryuji glances back at her, and he flashes her a toothy grin. And in that moment, with trees flying past, and the sky brightening around them, Ann feels like a child again.

 _And there he goes_  
_Racing toward the tallest tree_ _  
From far across the yellow field I hear him calling “Follow me”..._

They reach the top of the plateau, but they keep on running. Ryuji’s yelling something, something about them being the tallest people in Tokyo, and how they’ll be the first people in Japan to see the first sunrise of the new year. And the smile that he gives her, audacious and eager, shines with the purity of a child.    
  
The swell of nostalgia that hits her isn’t real- Ann only met Ryuji in middle school, after all. But just for a moment, she feels like they could’ve been kids together. In another time. In another life- just two kids, too young for worry, running, with the sun on their faces and the wind in their hair...

 _There we go_  
_Wondering how the world might look from up so high_  
  
_One foot after the other_  
_One branch then to another_  
_I climb higher and higher_  
_I climb ‘til the entire_ _  
Sun shines on my face…_

They perch together, standing on the tallest tree on the tallest mountain in Japan- at least, the tallest one climbable by high schoolers and within driving distance of Tokyo.  
  
Ryuji doesn’t seem to mind the details. He takes a deep breath of the crisp morning air, gazing out at the first wisps of sunrise, staining the sky pink and gold.  
  
“That was close,” Ryuji sighs, wiping sweat from his brow. He flashes Ann a smile.  
  
The branch Ann’s standing on creaks in the wind. Ryuji’s smile vanishes.  
  
“Ann-”

_And I suddenly feel the branch give way_

“Ann!”

_I’m on the ground_

“ **Ann!** ”

 _My arm goes numb_ _  
_ _I look around…_

“Ann,” Ryuji whispers, urgent, afraid. “Ann, can you hear me? Are you okay?”  
  
“Ryuji…” Ann croaks, her voice hoarse. Ryuji takes her hand and squeezes.  
  
“I’m here,” Ryuji says, as honestly as she’s ever seen him. “I’m right here.”  
  
Ann sits up, shaking the pins and needles out of her arms. She takes in a shallow gasp, her chest and back aching. The broken branch rests on the grass behind her.  
  
She sits there, dazed and winded, while Ryuji stares at her with an ugly fear in his eyes. Slowly, she lifts her head and looks at him. Her lips curl into a teasing smile.  
  
“Ryuji Sakamoto, you’re my _hero_ .”  
  
“ _Fuck off!_ ” Ryuji explodes into outraged laughter. “You’re joking? Are you serious? Is she serious? You’re for real gonna joke right now?!”  
  
Ann laughs. Her aching lungs protest, but she can’t help herself. She dissolves into giggles, the adrenaline spiking in her system coalescing into relief.  
  
“Aww,” Ann teases, despite everything. “Were you _worried_ about me or something?”  
  
“ _Um? Yes?? You jackass???_ ” Ryuji punches her in the arm, before immediately pulling her into a hug. He sighs, smearing tears into her scarf. “...God. Don’t scare me like that.”  
  
“Sorry,” Ann murmurs, sheepish. She reaches up and rests a hand in Ryuji’s hair.  
  
“So you’re actually okay?” Ryuji mutters into her throat.  
  
“Yeah,” Ann coos. “Nothing too serious.”  
  
“You’re sure?”  
  
“Yeah,” Ann shrugs. “...Although I kinda want to just lay here for a bit.”  
  
Ryuji exhales. “...Works for me.”  
  
Ryuji settles in beside Ann. The ground beneath them is hard, the grass brittle with frost. They gaze up at the lightening sky, their arms touching.  
  
Casually, without any fuss, Ann- or maybe it was Ryuji- twines their fingers together.

 _All we see is sky for forever_  
_We let the world pass by for forever_ _  
Buddy, you and I for forever, this way, this way…_

“Hey,” Ann says, into the open air.  
  
“Yeah?” Ryuji murmurs.  
  
“You know you’re, like, my best friend?”  
  
Ryuji snickers, and smiles. “Yeah.”  
  
Ryuji squeezes Ann’s hand. She turns to face him- and Ryuji swears, looking at her flaxen hair and sky-blue eyes is like seeing the sunrise before anyone else.  
  
“Guess what?” Ryuji asks.  
  
“What?”  
  
Ryuji nods towards the horizon. He grins.  
  
“We made it.”

 _All we see is light_ _  
_ _‘Cause the sun burns bright…_

The first sunrise of the new year crests the horizon and bathes them in its brilliant, amber glow. The gray twilight is swept away, the world exploding into color. Light washes over the city, across the trees, upon the frigid, brittle grass, turning everything it touches a vivid gold.  
  
And Ann realizes, suddenly, and quite vividly, that they _did_ make it. They made it through their senior year, and everything before that. They made it through Kamoshida, together. They made it through the mayhem of the Metaverse. They made it through school, when nobody thought they would- and now here they were, perched at the top of the world, gazing out at a golden new year.  
  
Ann chokes out a pained gasp, and realizes that she’s crying. She squeezes Ryuji’s hand, and smiles through her tears.  
  
“Next year,” Ann murmurs. “We have to do this again.”  
  
“Yeah,” Ryuji nods, “once Akira and Shiho are back for good. We’ll get everyone together, and we’ll come here. All of us.”  
  
“Promise?”  
  
Ryuji squeezes Ann’s hand.  
  
“Promise.”  
  
Their eyes meet- a moment, just for a moment- and then they’re back to watching the sunrise together, sitting on top of the world.

 _We could be alright for forever, this way_  
_Two friends_  
_True friends_ _  
On a perfect day._

~*~


End file.
